BEN THERE, WON THAT

Boy band 'N Sync picked up awards for best single for Pop and for best album, while Spears was named favorite female artist.

"Thank you so much for doing this for me," she told the audience Sunday at the third annual awards show. "It's just such an honor being voted by all my peers."

Members of the Houston girl group Destiny's Child said they were surprised to beat out stiff competition like 'N Sync, O-Town and the Backstreet Boys to win the award for favorite pop group.

The show will air at 7 p.m. Monday on Fox. Votes for favorite actors, musicians and athletes were cast on forms published in Seventeen magazine and made available online.

One nominee surprised fans with his appearance. Actor Ben Affleck, who is currently in treatment for alcohol abuse, came out to pick up two awards, including favorite actor.

"I actually wasn't going to be here, but I felt like it was important, because this actually means a lot to me because it's voted on by you guys," he said.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays the title character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, accepted the award for extraordinary achievement.

-- Associated Press

ONE LIST

The following new releases are expected on music store shelves today.

Pick of the week: Alison Krauss & Union Station find a New Favorite (Rounder). Back again with her longtime band, Krauss continues to heighten awareness of bluegrass music by dressing it with pop and country.

Captured in concert:k.d. lang is captured in performance on Live by Request (Warner Bros.) answering the calls for Constant Craving, Miss Chatelaine, Crying and more.

The other country: Chip Taylor, best known as author of Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning, returns from the missing with a stirring collection of alt-country sagas on Black & Blue America (Train Wreck Records). Voices blended into the mix include Lucinda Williams and John Prine.

More from the heartland:Grant-Lee Phillips (ex-Grant Lee Buffalo) warms up his golden voice and moves from rural Americana themes to poppier, big city sounds on Mobilize (Zoe/Rounder).

Most Requested Songs (Concord) gathers the best of recently deceased songstress Susannah McCorkle.

Compilation: Celebrate vicariously the glory that is Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millennium (Epic) with contributions from Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park, Papa Roach and more.

-- Knight Ridder Newspapers

IT'S FREE

DOCUMENTARY:Unknown Children is a documentary film about 52 youngsters, mostly toddlers, who were transported from an orphanage in the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands to Nazi concentration camps at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, and Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia. Chaja Verveer of Houston was among the children and will introduce the documentary, which will be shown at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Holocaust Museum Houston. Reservations are required. Call 713-942-8000, Ext. 104.